Ukraine confesses assaulting main oil pipeline to EU

(MENAFN) Ukraine’s General Staff has confirmed that its forces attacked Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline system during a large-scale drone assault on Tuesday. The Druzhba pipeline, one of the longest crude transport networks in the world, spans approximately 4,000 kilometers, delivering oil from Russia to refineries in Germany, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

According to an official statement on Ukraine’s Telegram channel, the country’s security services orchestrated the strike, resulting in explosions near the "Stalnoi Kon" (Steel Horse) dispatching station in Russia’s Oryol region, a critical hub for the pipeline’s operations.

Hungary, which heavily depends on Druzhba for oil imports, condemned the attack as "unacceptable" and accused Ukraine of endangering its sovereignty. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated that crude deliveries through the pipeline were briefly suspended but later resumed. He also criticized the European Commission, asserting that its promises to safeguard Hungary’s energy security had been repeatedly broken.

Media reports suggest that three Ukrainian fixed-wing drones hit a terminal of the Druzhba pipeline in Russia’s Bryansk region as part of a broader offensive. The assault, involving over 340 UAVs, targeted civilian infrastructure across Russia, killing at least three people, injuring over 20, and igniting a fire at a Rosneft oil depot in Bryansk.

Throughout the conflict, Ukraine has frequently attacked Russian energy facilities, despite the resulting disruptions to its European allies' fuel supplies. In January, Ukrainian forces attempted to strike a compressor station of the TurkStream pipeline, which delivers gas to Turkey and several EU nations, including Hungary, Serbia, and Greece. Additionally, Ukrainian drone attacks have previously damaged oil refineries and fuel depots in Russia, including incidents in Krasnodar and St. Petersburg earlier this year.

The most significant attack on Russian energy infrastructure occurred in September 2022 with the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, which transported Russian gas to Europe. While various theories have surfaced about the perpetrators, no definitive conclusion has been reached.

Moscow has strongly condemned these attacks on its energy facilities, denouncing them as acts of terrorism.

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